NaruHina Holidays
by Not-So-GentleFist
Summary: See how Naruto and Hinata celebrate their holidays as the year goes by, revelations are made, conflicts resolved, and love blooms. Holiday-themed oneshots. Latest entry: Bait (April Fools)
1. Christmas

**Last Minute Shopping **

(Christmas)

**Rating:** T (just being safe)

**Summary:** Unfortunately, Naruto has lost track of the date, and finds himself rushing to finish his Christmas shopping all on Christmas Eve. The shops are closing soon, and there is only one last person in need of a gift – Hinata Hyuuga. As the knucklehead tries to find a suitable gift for the girl, he discovers thoughts and feelings he has never had before. What will happen when he finally gives her her present at the gang's Christmas party?

*****Takes place pre-Shippuden (sometime after Tsunade becomes Hokage), also Sasuke did not leave (cause I said so!)*****

**A/N: Hope you all enjoy – yeah, I know it's a wee bit late, but I've been having trouble writing lately for some reason, and with Christmas dinner with the family and whatnot, I got this done later than I hoped. I also incorporated a little element from The Last (well, The Last trailers and hype, really – prbly won't see the actual movie for a long time), see if u know what it is. Hopefully you're still in the holiday spirit, knee-deep in leftover cookies and new gadgets and gismos. Merry belated Christmas(/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Birthday/Anniversary/Whatever else you may be celebrating), enjoy the first of my holiday collection! **

* * *

The skies were bleak and cloudy, while the streets below glowed with the orange-yellow hue of street lamps. The earth was tucked into a pillowy blanket of white, while more snow swirled down, carried by a chilling breeze that nipped at the skin of the civilians still out and about. This winter scene was both beautiful and merciless, though Konoha's sole Uzumaki paid it no mind as he rushed around the shopping district.

Naruto endured the cold evening air, as he had come to a shocking revelation this day: it was Christmas Eve! And he had completely forgotten to buy any of his friends their presents!

The boy was in such a hurry that he had foolishly neglected to don his winter clothing, coming out in only his regular ninja attire. Only a while later, his body was shivering and his teeth were clattering, but it was too late to return to his apartment now; if he went to retrieve his coat, mitts, hat, and whatnot, the shops would be closed before he could finish his gift shopping. So he just took reprieve in the shelter of the shops while he made his purchases, and tried not to succumb to the harsh trips in between.

Tomorrow, the entire gang, the rookie nine along with Team Gai, would all be getting together for a Christmas party; that was when he would give everyone their presents. Naruto had decided to get a gift for each one of his friends, not wanting anyone to think he was excluding them. He had saved up a decent budget from his missions just for the day. It was no big challenge; it was not like he was giving really expensive gifts.

For example, the blonde was just leaving a weapons dealer with his newest addition to his big bag of goodies: a new pair of nunchuks. He knew Tenten had a passion for weapons, and the last time teams seven and Gai had trained together, Naruto remembered Tenten asking to try out Lee's nunchuks, so he assumed she did not yet have a pair. Hopefully she would appreciate the gift.

With this, Naruto's list of people to buy for was nearly complete. Next up was his sensei, Kakashi. He rolled his eyes. That was an easy one. The boy immediately set himself on route to the nearest bookstore. The newest installment of Icha Icha was sure to please to the cycloptic jounin.

Since he had some time until he would reach the bookstore, the jinchuuriki decided to start thinking of ideas for the last name on his list: Hinata Hyuuga.

Naruto thought hard as he trekked down the rows of shops, but nothing would come to him. He was honestly stumped on what the girl would like. After all, Naruto did not know her that well. Not that he was close with every other member of the Konoha twelve, but at least with the others their interests were clear. Shino liked bugs, Kiba liked dogs, Chouji liked food, and Sasuke liked – well, nothing really. Naruto just made sure all of his gifts were small, so they were easy to carry home and shove somewhere out of the way. So far, the last Uchiha had been seemingly appreciative of this rationale. But for the life of him, Naruto had no clue what Hinata was interested in.

The knucklehead thought back to his memories of Hinata. In his remembrance, Naruto realized the reason why he did not know the pupiless girl too well. Nearly every encounter he could recall with the Hyuuga ended abruptly after she either ran off or fainted before the two could really talk much about anything. Why was she always doing that? Did she not like him? Perhaps she was just terribly shy? No, he ruled the latter out; she had always seemed comfortable and calm with others before he tried to join in. But she had always treated him kindly! Maybe it was just politeness, though… It did not matter; maybe if he got her a nice enough present, he could change her mind!

Knowing the solution was not going to come to him on its own, Naruto decided to do a little window shopping during his walk to find something that Hinata would like.

So the young shinobi kept his eyes on the various displays in the windows of nearby stores, but nothing stood out to him. Conceding he did not know much about Hinata, he tried to think a bit more generally. He began scanning the displays for any good ninja items.

Maybe he could get her some weapons like with Tenten? No, she was a hand-to-hand fighter. He could always go with a set of kunai or shuriken though… No, that took no thought; it would come off as a lame gift. Perhaps a jutsu scroll? No, she pretty much only used the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist style.

Naruto furrowed his brow in frustration. Ok, so ninja gear was out. _'Hm… What could I possibly get for a girl like her…_' The blonde snapped his fingers as he had an epiphany – she was a girl! He could just get something girly for her! Now, what do girls like…

A small shop advertising an array of fancy cosmetics caught the boy's eye. That's it! He could get her some makeup! Girls like makeup, right?

Naruto shook his head defeatedly. No, as long as he could remember knowing the kunoichi, Naruto had never seen her wearing any sort of makeup like a lot of the other girls. _'She already looks pretty enough without it anyway.' _

After a short pause, the jinchuuriki's eyes widened as he realized what he had been thinking. _'B-but not as pretty as Sakura-chan!'_ he quickly caught himself.

It was true. The pinkette was definitely easy on the eyes. It was obvious that she put plenty of effort into her appearance, and many other boys would attest to this. But Hinata was not bad looking either; she had a different kind of appeal too. More of a… innocent, gentle look. She was pretty cute, actually. And she exuded this aura of cuteness so naturally…

"Gah!" Naruto shook his head, trying to derail his train of thought. He had to focus here! He had to focus on getting his present for the blue-haired Hyuuga.

The blonde continued down the street, his confusion being blown away by the cold wind. Shortly after, Naruto found himself in front of a clothing store. Yeah! That could work! Girls liked clothes!

He excitedly stepped through the door and headed straight to the racks upon racks of outfits. He felt a bit weird going through the women's section, but it was for a gift.

Scanning through endless masses of garments, Naruto had to question: what would Hinata like? The only thing he had ever seen Hinata in was her thick, beige jacket. What did she wear underneath, though? The blonde used his imagination as he judged the many possibilities. The shinobi tried to picture Hinata in each of the available outfits, attempting to find one that would suit her – but found that to be more difficult than expected. Forget what she wore, he didn't even know what she **looked like** under that ever-present jacket! Did she have a slim, athletic build? Was she more muscular? Did she have a lot of feminine curves…

Naruto was zoned out for a minute, breaking out of his daze only after carelessly walking into a rack. He returned his focus to what was ahead of him – to come face to face with a row of bras. Unsurprisingly, the Uzumaki's active imagination immediately tried to visualize Hinata in it – and only it.

The boy's whiskered cheeks were stained red as he mentally tried to figure out Hinata's size.

He snapped himself out of yet another daze and made a panicked beeline to the exit, once again ignoring the freezing air that greeted him. Naruto mentally scolded himself for actually thinking like the pervy sage for a second there. Ok, so clothes shopping had been a bad idea. Scratch that; looking for girl stuff in general had been stupid. He knew nothing about girls. Well, back to the drawing boards.

The orange-clad boy was straining himself to summon up every ounce of knowledge on the girl while surveying potential gifts, but still failed to come up with anything useful. That is, until he approached a nearby pharmacy.

He almost ignored it – what, was he going to get her medicine for Christmas? How lame would that be!

But then a spark hit. Naruto suddenly recalled his encounter with the Hyuuga kunoichi in the chuunin exam preliminaries, when she had given him that healing cream… That was it! If he could find a place that sold medicinal herbs, he could get some ingredients to help her make her next batch!

Naruto frowned. _'Except I don't know anything about medicinal plants.'_ Still, figures Hinata would be into that stuff. After all, she was always a very kind person, only makes sense she would want a way to help other people like that. Surely she wasn't as learned in the field of medicine as Sakura, Tsunade's own apprentice, but Sakura had gone into medical work for a different reason. She had taken up the challenge to prove herself. Not to mention she had always been less than enthusiastic – annoyed, really – whenever the knucklehead landed himself in the hospital for one thing or another and required her care. Hinata had seemed genuinely concerned for him when she had offered the cream – quite generously, considering she had had yet to fight herself.

And Naruto had been genuinely grateful for the miracle cream. It was one of the most touching gestures he had ever received. And this gratefulness only steeled his resolve to find her a gift. She deserved the best gift for being so kind-hearted and outgoing!

But alas, Naruto was still coming up empty-handed. It was a couple of minutes after that he finally reached his destination. He entered the bookstore and approached the aisle carrying the newest Icha Icha. He rolled his eyes as he grabbed the dirty novel.

At this point time was running out, and Naruto was desperate, grasping at straws. Maybe Hinata would like a book? She always had good grades in the academy, so she had to be smart, and smart people read books, right? He strolled up and down aisles, eyeing the shelves. What kind of book would Hinata like? Horror? No, definitely not. Fantasy adventure? Maybe. Romance? Girls liked romance, right? Was it possible Hinata was actually a romantic? An idealist indulging in her fantasies of one day being whisked away by her knight in charming armor, or Prince Shiny or whatever it was? What kind of boy would she even be interested in being swept off her feet by anyway…

Naruto shook his head clear once more, his own erratic thoughts again distracting him from the task at hand. Conceding that he had no clue what kind of book Hinata would enjoy, the blonde walked to the cashier to pay for his sensei's present, ignoring the looks the man gave to the preteen purchasing an erotic novel.

Naruto added the book to his big bag of presents and sighed forlornly. He had been enjoying the warmth of the shop, but now it was out of the frying pan and back into the freezer for him. He shivered as he hit the streets. If he had not regretted forgetting his winter wear before, he certainly did now. The cold was really starting to get to him. If it had not been for the Kyuubi, the knucklehead definitely would have had a terrible flu. Even with the demon's help, the jinchuuriki might still catch a cold if he was out much longer.

It was not even a block away that Naruto ran into someone he had not been expecting. Right as he had been mentally complaining over how hard the Hyuuga heiress was to shop for, he noticed a head of navy blue turn around the corner. It was the aforementioned heiress, and she was just as quick to spot out the orange-garbed genin. The girl froze on the spot as she looked upon him for only a moment, in her pale lavender winter coat, snow-white mitts and fuzzy white earmuffs decorated with chibi bunnies. Taking in Naruto's appearance, woefully underdressed and shivering unrestrainedly, she immediately took off in a sprint towards him.

"N-N-Naruto-kun! Are you o-ok?!" she cried in worry as she stopped in front of him.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" he reassured – though unconvincingly.

"W-what are you doing out like this?"

"Me? Oh, n-nothing really, just out for a walk!" He topped off his fib with a sheepish chuckle, hoping she would ignore the bulging bag behind his back. Naruto decided to keep his last minute shopping to himself, hoping to be able to fish out some gift ideas from the very source of his predicament.

"How long have you b-been out?"

Naruto scratched his chin, honestly not entirely sure himself. "I dunno – a couple hours, maybe three?"

The look of pure worry and care emanating from Hinata nearly overwhelmed the Uzumaki. Unexpectedly, a small hand began unzipping her well-insulated winter jacket.

"What are you doing, Hinata?" Naruto asked in confusion.

The kunoichi responded as she continued to remove the piece of clothing. "You s-shouldn't be out like this! P-please, take my jacket!" she blurted.

Naruto, now understanding her intentions, swiftly grabbed the hand on her zipper with his own, deepening the trademark dusting of pink on her cheeks. "You can't," he interjected, a matching concerned expression on his features, "then you'll freeze instead."

"B-b-but –" she tried to argue before being interrupted by the blonde.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm heading home anyways," he fibbed again, trying to convince her with a wide smile.

Once he could tell the lavender eyed girl's worry had decreased, even if just a bit, he released her hand, both to her relief and disappointment. She zipped her jacket back up, biting her lip. She appeared conflicted for a fleeting moment, as if fighting an internal struggle. Then, with a shaky voice, she quietly stammered out, "T-then at least t-t-take this, p-please." Her left hand dipped into a jacket pocket, coming back out with a long, red scarf in hand. She thrust it toward him, squeezing her eyes shut and bowing her head down, hiding her face behind her bangs.

Naruto mulled it over for a second, but figured it would be ok to accept it, since she did not seem to need it anyway, since it was kept in her pocket. He reached out and carefully grasped the fabric from her. "Arigato, Hinata," he said with a deep gratitude. She once again raised her head with a small smile.

It was then that Naruto tried to subtly change the topic so he could find out what she would like for Christmas. "You looking forward to the party tomorrow Hinata?"

"O-of course," she replied with a nod, engaging hesitantly in the small talk.

"Me too, I love Christmas! Any party with presents is cool in my books!" he exclaimed merrily with a thumbs up. "Is there anything you're hoping to get this Christmas?" he asked, intently waiting on a response.

"J-just spending time with you – ALL OF YOU! – is enough to m-make me happy, Naruto-kun," she replied, just barely catching the near slip-up.

This answer did not bide well with Naruto, but before he could try again, Hinata quickly blurted out, "S-sorry, but I have to be s-somewhere. Bye, Naruto-kun!" and scurried off.

The knuckleheaded ninja just stared after her until she rounded another corner. He let out another sigh. That conversation proved no help in his quest. Tossing that aside for just a minute, the Uzumaki began wrapping the scarf around his neck, inspecting the fabric as he did so. If he was not mistaken, the scarf seemed to be handmade. Either Hinata had knit it herself or one of her family members had made it specially for her. Either way, it was incredibly generous to give something like that away. She had once again left him speechless – well, as close to speechless as the loud boy could get – with her caring gesture. It may not have completely shielded him from the mercilessly chilling wind and snow, but the thick garment was a vast improvement to his previous situation. Strangely enough, it seemed to keep his chest the most warm. He gripped delicately onto one dangling end with his free hand, enjoying the soft feel as some more feeling returned to the appendage.

* * *

Naruto's head hung low as he dragged his feet. All around him, shop lights were going out one by one as their owners left after locking up for the night, signalling the end of the workday for the numerous shopkeepers and salesmen.

It had been around twenty minutes since Naruto's encounter with Hinata, and he had officially run out of time. He had failed, and his meeting with the girl he had failed only served to make him feel incredibly guilty. Even though they barely spent any time together, she had been such a good friend, shown so much care and generosity towards him, and he could not even get her one lousy present! He felt useless.

Wallowing in his own self-pity, he did not even notice his pinkette teammate walking down the street towards him.

"Oh, hi Naruto!" Sakura greeted with a friendly smile and wave. To her surprise, her teammate did not even bother to look up.

"Hey, Sakura," Naruto forced out. To Sakura's complete shock, on top of dropping the 'chan' suffix, the blonde proceeded to walk right by her. Naruto **never** ignored her like this! Even when he was down, which he certainly seemed to be, he did not simply disregard her like this.

Thinking something must be seriously wrong, Sakura grabbed his arm before it was out of reach to stop the shinobi. "Naruto, is something wrong?" the baffled medic inquired. She took note of the stuffed bag in his hands. "Just doing your Christmas shopping now?" If it had not been for the boy's depressed state, she would not have relented in giving the boy a good thwop to the head for being so forgetful.

Naruto slowly turned around, still not meeting her gaze. "Yeah," he affirmed in a hopeless monotone, "but I didn't get everyone. I got something for nearly everyone, but I couldn't find something for Hinata. Now she's gonna think I hate her cause she's the only one I won't have a gift for.

It was weird seeing the normally cheerful blonde with such a grim outlook. All this, over one measly present? _'If that dobe would just get a clue and realize her feelings, he would know how easy it would be for him to make her happy.' _

In a flash of devious brilliance, a wicked idea came to Sakura Haruno's mind. She supressed a sly smirk as she began to remedy the situation. "Me and Shikamaru are actually giving her a group present together, if you're that upset about it you could pitch in and we could put your name on it too.

Naruto's head shot up, smiling at her as if she had just saved his life. "Really? That's great –ttebayou! Thank you, thank you, thank you! How much do I owe you!" he shouted out excitedly.

Sakura tapped her chin, obviously doing the math in her head. "Hm… I suppose one hundred and fifty ryo should be enough." The hyperactive ninja did not hesitate to grab his wallet and frantically shake the necessary amount out of it, handing the money to his teammate.

"Here you go! So, what are we giving her?"

Sakura simply pocketed the cash and continued walking the route she had been before. "You'll see! Now go home, you look cold!" she said as she walked off, leaving a confused shinobi behind.

Naruto didn't know what the big secret with the gift was all about, but he was just glad to have something to give Hinata tomorrow. Pulling out his frog-shaped wallet once more, he counted up what remained from his holiday shopping.

'_Perfect, just enough to get some Ichiraku's takeout on the way back! Some hot ramen is sure to warm me up!'_

'_Perfect, now I have just enough to get some dango,' _Sakura thought, now smirking triumphantly. Oh, tomorrow's party was going to be interesting. Sakura's plan to give Hinata the best Christmas gift she would ever receive was simple, elegant, and wouldn't cost her a dime – but Naruto didn't need to know that. All she needed was to ask a certain lazy chuunin for a little favor.

* * *

It was Christmas day, and the young shinobi's Christmas party was just getting started. Most of the gang had already arrived, engaging in friendly chit-chat with their friends, or munching on the snacks on the decorated tables.

At this moment, an infamous knucklehead ninja joined the festivities, this time dressed for the weather in a coat, hat (both the necessary shade of bright orange), and the red scarf he had received just the previous evening. As he shrugged off his extra layers, leaving them on the coat hanger by the door, he was unaware of the pupiless eyes observing him.

From across the room, Hinata was beaming. **Beaming**. Her smile would bring youthful tears to both Lee and Gai's eyes.

"Right Hinata? Hinata!" Tenten broke the kunoichi out of her daze, bringing her back into the conversation. Still, inside her mind, she was giddily jumping up and down in glee. _'He's wearing the scarf again! He really likes it!'_

Despite the joy that came from the fact that Naruto seemed to like the scarf she gave to him, she could not work up the nerve to talk to him during the party. That is, until a couple hours later, when the gift exchanging began.

Naruto was happily watching Tenten experimentally swing her nunchuks around when Sakura approached him. "Yo, Sakura-chan, I got this for you!" he said, holding out a wrapped package in his hands.

"Thanks Naruto," she said as she took it from his hands. But before she even bothered opening the gift, she shoved an envelope into his hands. "Before you get too excited, this one isn't yours, it's Hinata's. Would you mind giving it to her?"

"Sure thing," he replied. "But what is it?" he asked curiously, scrutinizing the envelope from every angle. What could possibly fit inside? It must be some sort of voucher or pass for something. Whatever it is, it had better be good, it was for Hinata after all. And he had paid his part for it.

Sakura refused to answer his question. "Never mind that, you'll see when she opens it. Now just go and give it to her!" she commanded, giving the blonde a rather firm push in the direction of the blue-haired girl.

"Hey Hinata!" Naruto greeted heartily. Hinata turned around abruptly at the familiar voice, her fingers automatically pressing together as she came face to face with her crush. "This is for you!" he told her with his trademark foxy grin. The shy girl had to pry her digits apart to take the envelope from his hands.

"You got this f-for m-me?" she said disbelievingly, dancing with glee and anticipation in her mind.

"Actually, it's from Sakura, Shikamaru and I," he clarified, not one to steal credit. This still did not ruin her jubilation from being given a gift from her Naruto-kun.

She carefully opened the envelope, dying to know what he (they) had got her. Even if it was a group gift, just the fact that Naruto had thought of her brought her great joy.

Naruto watched as she pulled out the card and opened it. To his utter confusion, nothing came out of it. No coupons, no vouchers, no passes, nothing! Just what exactly had he paid for! He could have got her a stupid card himself!

Whatever was written inside it though, had Hinata equally as confused. As she raised a brow and double-checked to make sure she was reading it right, Naruto leaned in to look at the message. Inside were only two words.

'ABOVE YOU'

Nani? Naruto looked back to Hinata, who by now was staring up, wide eyes fixated on something on the ceiling in an expression he could only guess was sheer terror. He looked up to see what exactly she was staring at, only to mirror her face.

Up on the ceiling, directly above the pair, was a small bundle of mistletoe.

The two looked back down at each other in unison, each taking a loud gulp as they did. If either of them had the clarity of mind to examine the decoration more closely, they may have noticed that it was hung not from a string, but from the tip of a shadow.

"I-is that –"

"Mistletoe," Hinata finished for the unusually tongue-tied ninja.

"I-I guess that means w-we have to…"

"Y-yes… It's t-t-tradition…"

With no argument from either side, the two slowly, nervously, inched their faces closer to each other. As they closed their eyes in preparation, Hinata's mind was running amuck. _'Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I'm about to k-k-k-kiss Naruto-kun! Don't faint! Don't faint! I won't get another chance like this! For the love of sweet kami, don't let me faint until after the kiss!'_

And with that, their lips met. Both let the feeling of the other's lips on theirs soak in, even Naruto enjoying it more than he expected. Gently, innocently, longingly, they kissed.

And kissed…

Perhaps they remained connected a bit longer than most following this holiday tradition, but they still broke apart far too early for either of their likings. After separating, Hinata found herself unable to look away from his eyes, opposite from her usual dilemma. Both pairs of orbs were clouded with a strong loving feeling.

Naruto was the one to break the awkward silence that ensued. "Hinata, are you ok? You look a bit woozy," he asked the swaying girl. "Hinata? Hinata!"

And that was the last thing Hinata heard when she passed out.

* * *

Hinata was confused. She was just waking up from a deep sleep, wondering what exactly she was sleeping on. It was firmer than her bed, but not uncomfortable, and it was radiating a comforting warmth.

Where was she? The last thing she remembered, she was at a party, and then she was kissing Naruto…

'_Oh my gosh! I did it! I kissed Naruto-kun!'_ she mentally celebrated, a deep scarlet overtaking her hot face.

"You up?" a voice asked from above her after its owner noticed the blushing hue of her cheeks.

Hinata's eyes shot open, and all she saw was orange. She lifted her head up – only to realize she had been sleeping on Naruto!

Defying all laws of nature, Hinata blushed deeper. She was seated in Naruto's lap, her head previously nestled in his chest; just how long had she been in this position! The two were on a chair off to the side of the room while the party raged on around them.

"Uh… Hey," Naruto said lamely, unsure of what else to say.

"Hey," Hinata mirrored, both staring back at each other in uncertainty.

Hinata was first to break eye contact, looking off to the side and mumbling something inaudible.

"What was that?"

"I'm s-sorry," she whispered with a stutter.

Naruto blinked. "Sorry for what?"

"I d-don't have a present to g-give to you," she explained.

The blonde gave her a grin. "That's ok, I don't mind, really."

Hinata glanced to the coat rack. "I was g-going to give you that scarf I made for y-you, but I ended up giving i-it to you yesterday, so n-now I don't have anything f-for you…" she said regretfully.

"Don't worry about it. I really liked it," he reassured her, prompting her to look back up. "And it really helped me out yesterday, I appreciate it." Hinata was met with a heart melting grin.

'_Well… It may have been early, but at least I managed to give him his present this year,'_ she thought with a small smile.

"But… why would you go through all that trouble just for me?" Naruto asked, dumbstruck that Hinata would go through all that work for him. She never ceased to surprise him.

This was it. Hinata took a moment to steel herself for her response. _'It's now or never. I just kissed him, I can do this. 3… 2… 1…'_

"Because I love you, Naruto-kun!" she blurted out without thinking about it.

Naruto was taken aback, not only by the volume of her voice and the absence of her stutter, but by what she had just confessed to him. _'She loves me?'_ Suddenly, multiple things clicked in the genin's mind that really should have a long time ago. At first, Naruto had assumed that this 'group gift' he had gotten in on had just been some sort of cruel prank by Sakura, but suddenly it all made sense. This explained all the fainting, the nervousness around him, that permanent blush painted on her cheeks, why their female friends giggled and made teasing kissy faces behind his back – YES, he noticed! – whenever they were left alone.

Ok, perhaps that last one should have been a tip-off.

Still, it felt so surreal. This girl loved him? This kind, outgoing, beautiful girl…

His thoughts following the same path they had been yesterday, he knew there was only one way to respond.

While Naruto had been sorting out his feelings, Hinata had started regretting her actions the second after she confessed. There was no way he would return her feelings! After all, he loved Sakura! She knew this, why was she foolish enough to believe she had a chance! This was too hard to bear!

Oh well, what was done was done. Now all she could do was steady her pounding heart as she waited on his crushing rejection. However, the next words to come out of her crush's mouth were not at all what she expected.

"If you're still upset over not having a gift for me, I know what you could give me."

Hinata looked back at him, thrown off by his sudden change of subject. "And w-what is that?" she asked cautiously.

"You could go out on a date with me?" he said, unsure whether this was a question or a statement, despite having said the words himself.

'_Wait… Did he just ask me out? A date with Naruto-kun? Say yes! Say yes! Don't faint!'_

"S-sure," was all she was able to breathe out.

Naruto broke into another brilliant grin upon hearing her answer. "Awesome! How does lunch at Ichiraku's sound!"

"S-sure," she repeated.

"Does noon work for you?"

"S-sure."

"Awesome!" he exclaimed. Then he chuckled sheepishly. "Um… I still gotta hand out a few more presents, you mind?" Naruto asked awkwardly.

Hinata realized she had still been positioned on top of him this entire time, and her cheeks flushed anew. She was quick to shoot back up to her feet, even if she had to admit she had been very comfortable there. Naruto got up after her, still grinning widely.

"Kay, I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"S-sure."

Fortunately for Hinata, after Naruto had left her presence, Kiba was walking by her on his way to the snack table. Hinata stopped him by gently tapping him on the shoulder.

"What's up, Hinata?" Kiba asked.

"Um… Kiba-kun, do you mind?" she asked politely.

The Inuzuka rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Sure, just one sec." He stepped to side the quickly to place his cup down on the table, stepping back towards his teammate with his hands outstretched. "Alright, I got you."

"Thanks, Kiba-kun," she whispered as she fell limp in his arms, sparing herself a nasty head bump she definitely would not want on her first date with Naruto, a dazzling smile on her face.

(And some people say Sasuke's heart grew three sizes that day – yeah right! lol couldn't resist)


	2. Valentine's Day

**Glitter and Paint: Part 1**

(Valentine's Day)

**Summary:** Naruto is in an unusually bad mood today. It's another normal Valentine's Day – except for a strange new development. When the class tries to figure out this mystery, they receive a surprising answer.

**A/N: Okay, so here's my Valentine's Day installment! Yes, this is a two-parter, the second part will be released on White Day. For those of you who don't know (We don't celebrate it in North America), that is March 14, a month after Valentine's. It's like a sister holiday, where people basically respond/give gifts to the people they received from on Valentines. I found out about it thru fanfics, and I'm not sure if it's just a Japanese thing or not (it was in a Naruto SD episode), but I felt it would be good to include. So remember – if you're getting worried about the ending to this one, the second part is yet to come! Enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

Naruto opened the door to room A-4. As usual, he was late for another day at the academy, ignoring the brief scolding from Iruka like always, making his way to his same old seat. Today, however, Naruto's normal cheek-splitting smile was replaced with a sour pout. This was because today was not just a normal day. Today was a very special day. A special day which Naruto was glad only came once a year, as it was one of the few that he **hated**. This day was a whopping annual reminder of just how alone the orphan was.

Valentine's day.

It was a pretty routine Valentine's day. As per holiday tradition, both his late entry and any sort of lesson plan were being completely ignored by his kunoichi classmates, who were all fawning over Sasuke Uchiha, the object of their collective affections. As usual, said Uchiha was tuning out the squeals and proclamations of love from his fangirls and ignoring the heap of cards on his desk, though helping himself to a few of the chocolates – because apparently even brooding Uchiha's can't turn down free chocolate. A girl would squeal as he took a bite, claiming that it meant he was accepting her feelings, until he shot that idea down with and idle comment of "too dry," or "chalky" without even bothering to turn around, like regular.

The blonde stopped glaring daggers at the dark-haired boy – who he was **not** jealous of! – and sighed. At least he was not the only boy to be overshadowed by the Uchiha on this day. Like normal, the other boys' desks were free of any sort of gifts. Chouji was munching on a package of heart-shaped candies he had purchased himself, never one to miss the opportunity for seasonal treats. Shikamaru had his head face-down, deep in sleep. Kiba was whispering to the nearest girl with a smug demeanor, making a few hand gestures, and – wait for it – there's the slap. That red mark would not be going away soon.

Still, while all of the girls in the class were blind to any boy without raven-hair and a completely narcissistic personality, there was no one as disliked by the female race as much as the lonely Uzumaki. At least when the others asked girls out they were not rejected nearly as painfully – well, except for maybe Kiba, but he had it coming. Hell, the only girl that would even hold a conversation with him was Ayame, one of the chefs at his favourite ramen stand, but she was probably a good five or six years older than him.

A few of the more eligible boys in his class had managed to get dates from girls in different classes, or civilians. Naruto had tried this tactic, hoping his reputation did not extend so far. Unfortunately, it did. He had ended up stumbling into a class a year above his own, and had asked out a cute bun-haired girl he had learned was named Tenten – she had given him a remedial lesson on storage scrolls, and just how many shuriken could fit in them.

The blonde cringed at the memory. Trying not to brood on his poor situation, lest he become like that bastard Sasuke, he shook his head clear and sat down at his desk, which just like usual, had – a card on it?

Naruto plopped his butt down into his seat, his face scrunched in a curious gaze. He picked up the card, holding it to his face, flipping it over, scrutinizing it as if he expected to find a paperbomb attached. The confused boy scratched his head. It seemed to be a genuine card; homemade at that. He would have believed it to just be misplaced, had it not had his name written in big, cursive letters on the front.

Naruto took a second to scan the actual design of it. The item was made of a red construction paper, cut into the shape of a heart. Other than his name, which was marked in black ink, the only other design on the front was some sort of frilly-looking white border.

Ino, one of Sasuke's fangirls who he had the _pleasure_ of sitting next to, decided to interrupt his inspection of the mysterious card.

"Oi, Naruto-baka! What do you think you're doing, stealing one of Sasuke-kun's cards! How petty can you be," the banshee wailed, snatching the card from his hand. However, her angry scowl quickly melted into a baffled stare to match the knucklehead's after she read the name boldly written across it.

"Huh… What… Wait, this is yours?"

"Yes it is, as you can see!" the orange-clad boy replied, very irked. "And I would like it back, if you don't mind." He snatched the card back, turning his own scowl on the ponytailed girl.

He turned back to the card, a hesitant hand slowly opening it. He did not notice all the aspiring kunoichi around him who had heard the outburst leaning in, looking over shoulders, all trying to get a glimpse, curious as to just who would send _Naruto_ a card.

Though his previous scowl remained plastered on his features, Naruto was beaming amazedly on the inside. He tried not to get his hopes up, fearing the strong possibility that this was just some sort of cruel, spirit-crushing prank.

'_Just one person,'_ Naruto mentally pleaded, _'I don't need a horde of fangirls and a big pile of cards like Sasuke, if just this one could be real… it'd be enough.'_

What he found inside was definitely not a prank. Unless the prank was to shut him up for the first time in his life, because the boy found himself struggling to remember how to even breathe.

On the inside of the heart-shaped card was a colourful picture of his own chibified face, flashing one of his signature grins, with a big, shiny, glittered sun behind him. The drawer was not an artist, but the drawings were fairly neat. He found it incredibly endearing.

But what he found even more endearing were the heartfelt words written below the image.

'_Naruto, you are like my own living sun. Your smile always brightens my day, no matter how dark. Your confidence is what gives me the strength to keep moving forward. One day, I want to be able to walk beside you, to have the courage you possess and see the world through your eyes._

'_Happy Valentine's Day!'_

Naruto was dumbstruck. How could someone possibly feel this way about him? He desperately wanted to rush to them and ask if they meant what they said, but to his dismay, the sender had not left their name.

The surrounding girls, however, were not as silent as the usually boisterous blonde. Already, whispers were flying across the room. Gossip history was in the making for the Konoha Academy, as girls defended themselves as accusations were thrown around, everyone curious as to whom this secret admirer of the dead-last was.

* * *

The students were out for their break, and like usual, Naruto sat alone on the old swing hanging from the lone tree beside the academy building.

Naruto's blue eyes met with the lime ones of a short, brunette classmate of his. The girl immediately looked away, continuing her conversation with her friends. The lonely Uzumaki sighed. He had been spending most of the break scanning through every girl in the crowded area. He had received many subtle glances, and he knew it was because him and his secret admirer were the talk of the class right now. He did not care what anyone thought of it though; there was only one person whose opinion mattered to him right now, but there was only one problem: he had no idea who that was.

All he wanted was for her to reveal himself. To just come and talk to him, to be by his side like she said she wanted to be. Why would she send him that card saying all those things and then just hide from him? He didn't get it.

Little did he know, while he was trying to figure out the mystery of his secret admirer, the other kunoichi hopefuls were doing the same.

"So you have no idea?" Ino questioned her pinkette friend and rival.

"Not a clue! I hadn't even noticed the card on his desk until Naruto found it!"

Ino groaned in frustration. "Ughhh… **Someone** must know who dropped that card on the dobe's desk!"

"Has anyone tried asking if any of the guys saw?" a girl with long red hair and a black, sleeveless shirt asked.

Sakura was quick to inform the group. "Well, I tried asking Shino, and he said it was there when he arrived. I asked the mutt, and he told me he'd tell me who it was – if he could see if I had anything _other_ than my hair that was so pink."

Half of the girls fake-gagged at the info.

"When is he finally gonna get neutered?" a kunoichi covered in tribal tattoos questioned.

Ino crossed his arms. "Well, if Shino doesn't know, then we might be screwed on this one. Nothing ever seems to get past him."

Sakura snapped her fingers. "Wait! There might be one other person who might know who Naruto's admirer is." The huddled girls leant in closer, urging her to spit it out. "If the person went completely unnoticed by nearly everyone, they must've gotten here pretty early. If anyone saw them, Hinata must have! That girl has like perfect attendance! She's never come a minute late in her life!"

"Good luck getting her to talk loud enough to hear who it was," one of the girls jabbed, eliciting catty snickers and giggles from many of the others.

"Yeah, and try not to raise your voice too much, you might break her."

"Make sure she doesn't keel over this time, or her daddy's gonna sick her Hyuuga hounds on the academy again."

Once all the jokes were finished, the group moved towards the unsuspecting Hyuuga. She was crouched by the fence alone, admiring a small flower sticking out from the grass. When she was covered by a very worrying shadow, she stood up to come face-to-face with the assembled mass of her female classmates.

"Hey Hinata, you're always early, right?" Sakura asked.

"W-well… Y-yes I a-am…"

"So did you see who the girl that left Naruto that card was?" Sakura probed.

Hinata's gaze bolted downwards, fingers circling each other as she stammered out, "N-no, I am afraid I d-did not, H-Haruno-san."

The pink-haired fangirl hung her head, about to leave with the rest of the group. However, they were all halted when Ino unexpectedly spoke up.

"Wait… What's on your hands?"

The ponytailed girl's eyes narrowed, focusing on a sudden shimmer she swore she saw from Hinata's fidgeting fingers.

Hinata looked to her hands perplexed, but her eyes widened when she realized what Ino was talking about.

"N-nothing!" she yelped, hiding her hands behind her back.

A very suspicious gang of kunoichi in training surrounded the poor girl, her back against the fence, as Ino forced her hands to her front. The Yamanaka turned her frail hands in the light, studying them closely before smirking. Hinata gulped.

"Oh really now? Because your hands seem to have some yellow glitter on them – just like the sun in Naruto's card was decorated with."

* * *

**Flashback**

This was no normal Valentine's Day. This year's was the one when Hinata had finally gathered the courage to give her crush, Naruto Uzumaki, a card revealing her feelings for him.

It was no masterpiece, but she had tried her hardest to make the gift clutched tightly under her arm look nice. Every word it said was sincere and came from the heart, which just made it all the more frightening to give it to him. That was probably why she could not bring herself to write her name on it. This way, if he does not like it, at least he will not know it was from her. If he did, however…

Well, she would figure out what to do in that case if and when the time came.

She was walking at an abnormally fast pace when she reached the academy. She had gotten up extra early to ensure no one else would be present to see her deliver the card. Or at least she had hoped no one else would be present, as when she entered her class she was surprised to find Shikamaru already there.

But that was not a problem, as he was out like a light at his desk.

As shocking as it was that the lazy Nara would actually be so early, that fact that he had come only to sleep was quite perplexing. It was better than sleeping in, Hinata supposed, but the heiress could not help but feel like the shadow user had inventing a whole new kind of slacking off – _sleeping out_, she would call it.

After placing Naruto's card on his desk for him, Hinata quietly left the classroom, making sure not to wake Shikamaru. She would go and pick up a quick cinnamon bun and arrive again once more people flooded in.

* * *

**Flashback End**

Hinata's face was beet red, her brow drenched with sweat. She mentally cursed how glitter was the single most obnoxious thing to try to get off of yourself.

Ino's hands retreated from the terrified Hyuuga's to clutch her own stomach. She was doubled over, howling hysterically, and many of the other girls shared in her laughter.

"No way! You… Naruto?! I can't... Believe it! Bahaha!"

"How could you actually like that dweeb?" another one of the girls joined in.

"H-he's not…" Hinata mumbled, though the others did their best to not let her get a word in.

"She's just being smart and aiming low, right Hinata?" Sakura teased with an oh-so-smug smirk.

"Yeah, the dead last and the hime of the mutes!"

"See, she's just being smart and settling, since she knows she can't do any better!"

"Talk about a mismatch, though," Ino said thoughtfully, "The loudest moron in the class with the quietest, most fragile little wallflower."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he turned her down!" one girl shouted. Hinata was in tears at this point, feeling small being surrounded and ganged up on.

"Hah!" Sakura barked. "Now that would be sight! **Naruto** rejecting somebody? Now I gotta see that!"

Hinata tried to voice a defense through her sobs, but it only came out as a choked mumble.

"What's that?" Ino asked, cupped a hand to her ear. "You gotta speak up if you want anyone to hear you. But don't worry; I'm sure your loud boyfriend could speak enough for both of you! You can just sit back and play with your fingers like usual."

Hinata looked down, watching as her tears splashed onto the dirt.

"So he's 'your own living sun', eh? Oh wait, but how would you even know what the sun looks like if you're always staring at your feet!" Sakura taunted, plopping a hand down on the shorter girl's downcast head.

To everyone's surprise, that hand was slapped away in a second.

"Leave her alone!"

Hinata's puffy eyes snapped open. She would know that voice anywhere.

"Oh, how perfect. Looks like the helpless loser's little boyfriend came to save her," Ino sang out in a falsely sweet tone.

Hinata looked up, staring at the red spiral always on the back of Naruto's orange jumpsuit. He was standing defiantly between her and the group of bullying girls. The scene made her body shake and her heart flutter.

For his part, Naruto was confused. Once he had noticed the shy girl from his class in the middle of the other kunoichi, and had seen her begin to cry, he had an idea of what was going on. He hated bullies, and especially could not stand so many people ganging up on a single person. He had dealt with this kind of thing more than anyone else could say. The surprising knucklehead did what he had always wanted someone else to do for him, and took action to help the poor girl.

But now, what was this about them calling them boyfriend and girlfriend? Where did that come from?

Ino noticed the blonde's hardened glare crack a little with his confusion. She simply smirked and clarified.

"Naruto, you'll never guess who left you that card." The Yamanaka smirked and pointed teasingly behind the whiskered kid.

Naruto turned to the girl he was defending, his face contorting into surprise. "Hinata…?"

If she had been terrified before, the heiress was inventing a whole new level of fear now. Her secret was out! _'No no no no no! Not like this!'_ She was bawling her eyes out, making a complete display of her total weakness. He was going to reject her for sure! And right in front of everyone!

Wracked with fear, she did the only thing she could. She ran. She panicked, pushing desperately through the crowd of girls, but still muttering a sobbed "gomen!" as she did. She ran away from all of her classmates. She ran away from the academy grounds. She ran through the streets of Konoha. She ran through the Hyuuga gates, straight to the main house, and into her room, panting and crying.


	3. White Day

**Glitter and Paint: Part 2**

(White Day)

**Summary:** It's been exactly one month since Naruto received Hinata's card on Valentine's Day, but because of her embarrassing outing, she has been avoiding him since. Luckily, Naruto finds a way to get her attention.

**A/N: Gomenasai! Gomenasai! I know, it's a few days late. I've been slow at writing lately, hopefully you can forgive me. I'm going to try not to miss more dates for this collection, the next one being April Fools (I was gonna do St. Patty's Day, but I didn't have a fully-formed idea for it yet, and it would've already been late. I'll catch it next year. Can't let Konoha's prankster king miss April Fools, though!). Also, a shout out to **_**Petran**_**, who gave me the kuoichi-prank scene. I liked it, so I just edited it a bit to give it my personal touch and put it in. Thanks man! Without further ado, enjoy the conclusion to Glitter and Paint!**

* * *

Hinata nervously entered her academy class. From appearance alone, it would seem like a normal school day. However, it was no regular day. Today was the day Hinata had been fearing for the past month.

White day.

As usual, the class was not nearly as festive as it was during White Day's sister holiday. The teacher would once again give out some cheap candies to the students, but that was just about it. If anything, the room had an almost bleak atmosphere. The young Hyuuga was certain that other classrooms were probably more upbeat, and that the depressive nature of hers could be attributed to the class buzzkill, Sasuke Uchiha. For some strange reason, every girl in the class except her was infatuated with him, and as per tradition, he had rejected all of them. Understandably, the potential kunoichi of the class were not in the best of moods.

What confused the byakugan welder, however, was the state of her female classmates. They were all covered in bright red bumps, and most of their hair was a shiny, matted mess. Not to mention the odd, yet sweet, odor permeating throughout the room.

Hinata brushed off the strange occurrence for the time being. At the moment, she was sitting silently at her desk. Her head was fixed downward, attempting to avoid any attention. Thankfully, the girls were too occupied with whatever sort of predicament they were in to pick on her – but they were not the ones Hinata was afraid of. She was shrinking into her desk today because of her long-time crush, Naruto.

It had been exactly one month since her Valentine's mishap, and she had been avoiding him like the plague since embarrassing herself so thoroughly in front of him. Today was White Day though, the day when the boys would respond to the girls who gave them gifts on Valentines, and give their own to the girl they like. The fear that Naruto would finally force her to confront him and his inevitable rejection hung like a noose on the timid girl's conscious.

The slacker had not arrived yet, and Hinata had no clue whether the next person to enter would be the blonde or not. Which is why she nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of the door opening again.

The pupiless girl slowly half-turned, stealing a shy peek at the recent arrival. To her relief, it was just her sensei Iruka.

By the teacher's puzzled expression, he had obviously taken note of the curious state of the other female students. His eyebrow and finger rose curiously as if he was about to ask the burning question inside him, but caught himself at the last second, simply pinching the bridge of his nose and muttering an irked, "Naruto…"

Brainstorming different methods of punishing the prankster, Iruka approached the front of the class and began the day's lesson.

Hinata relaxed a little. So Naruto did not even bother showing up today. Perhaps that was for the best. The girl never imagined she would be happy to** not** see the object of her affection, but it definitely beat a heartbreaking, humiliating rejection.

Class droned on as usual. Even Hinata had to admit that the history lectures could get a little boring. The model student she was, she still gave it her full attention and took notes, but she could not quite bring herself to really enjoy learning the trivial facts and events.

It was just a half an hour into the lesson that Hinata's notebook was obstructed when an unexpected paper airplane smoothly landed atop it. The Hyuga became worried for a second, but luckily for her, Iruka did not seem to notice. She did not want to get in trouble for getting involved in this kind of goofing off.

She was just going to brush the folded creation off her desk, but she noticed some pen marks leaking out of the folds. Glancing to the chunin teacher quickly, she discreetly opened the note, curiosity overriding her worry. What was written inside the mysterious note was one simple sentence.

_Look out the window._

The heiress was completely befuddled by the command. She did not even know who the plane had been thrown by, or what she was supposed to be looking for, but she had to know. She was not far from a window, so it was a simple matter of turning and leaning slyly to see past her neighbour.

Hinata had been expecting for there to be something in the window, or someone looking back at her, or perhaps something interesting happening just outside the academy. But to the contrary, there appeared to be nothing at all. The window just yielded the regular view of the academy grounds, the odd person walking past across the street, the usual buildings and stands in view.

Was this some kind of a joke? Hinata felt like there had to be _something_. A perceptive Hyuuga eye scanning across the landscape, Hinata searched for anything that the note could have possibly been referring to. And that's when she saw it.

Her eyes widened at the sight off in the distance. She blinked, but it remained; she was not hallucinating.

Sakura was leaning her head on her hand, trying to resist falling asleep. The lesson was more of a review than anything for her; she did not have the best marks of all the kunoichi for nothing. She ran her other hand through her filthy hair, now as sticky as the bubblegum it resembled, trying to neat it out a little. The only thing currently supressing her rage was her boredom disappointment, and the fact that the blonde devil that did this to her was not present to beat the pulp out of.

Idly scanning around the room, she caught the class mouse staring out the window with a dumb look on her face. Curious, she looked towards whatever had the girl so transfixed. At first she did not notice anything of interest, but after squinting her eyes, searching more intently, her eyes nearly popped too.

In response, Kiba, who sat behind her, noticed her surprise and fell to the urge to look too. As he finally discovered what she was staring at, a chain reaction ensued, student after student wondering what everyone else was looking at, disrupting the lesson when the entire class was staring out the window.

* * *

**Earlier**

Naruto Uzumaki walked through the village with purpose. His determination emanated from his confident stride as he neared his destination. He should be heading to the academy by this time, but he was moving in the opposite direction. This would not be the first time the jinchuuriki has played hooky, but this time he had a reason. Today, he was on a mission.

Since Valentine's Day, the only thing Naruto had been able to think about was his shy classmate. The dark, timid, weirdo. His first Valentine.

He had tried talking to Hinata multiple times since. Unfortunately, he could never seem to track her down when they got out of the classroom. And the few times he did manage to find her, the other girls would tease her until she fled away.

He was particularly pissed about that part. He had made sure to take care of the other kunoichi in training earlier this morning.

* * *

**Even Earlier That Day**

Ino was walking down the street with a skip to her step and a wide grin on her face.

_'He answered me! Sasuke-kun actually responded to my Valentine's Day chocolate!' _she mentally cheered over and over the entire walk. In her right hand she held a card that read:

_Dear Ino-chan,_

_Thank you for your Valentine's Day gift, I enjoyed it very much. I would like to return the favor in private. Meet me on the roof of the academy before class, 7:00 sharp._

_Love,_

_Your Sasuke-kun_

_'My Sasuke-kun! Ohmygawd! I wonder what he got me for white day!'_

It was five to seven when she finally arrived at the academy. There was no chance the mind reader was going to be late for this. However, she was greeted with a rather unwelcome sight just outside the building.

"Billboard brow," Ino snarled.

"Ino pig."

The two glared at each other vehemently.

"What're you doing here so early?" Sakura questioned.

"None of your business," she replied. Ino decided to keep her mouth shut; she would have plenty of time to rub it in her rival's face later. The last thing she needed was Sakura trying to sabotage her meeting with Sasuke.

The pinkette merely 'Hmph!'d and continued inside the building. The two entered a tense silence, both upset as they seemed to be heading in the same direction. A few steps in, they both noticed another pair of their female classmates ahead of them.

"Raiku? Sena? What are you two doing?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," the short one with the parted white hair answered snidely.

The vicious kunoichi ignored each other, even as more proceeded to enter the academy at such an early time. They all flocked up the stairs, growing more hostile by the second. Ino was waiting for them to break away at whichever floor they were headed to, but instead they all followed her to the top.

Frustrated beyond belief, Ino turned around in front of her classmates, forcing them to a stop in the stairwell.

"Look," she began with her hands on her hips. "I don't know what any of you are doing here, but _I _have a date with Sasuke-kun right now," she proclaimed smugly, raising her card from the boy, "and we would like a little privacy, so if you don't mind, we'd appreciate it if all you losers just scram."

None of the other girls appreciated this comment.

"What are you talking about pig? **I'm **the one Sasuke-kun wants to see," Sakura argued, holding up an identical card to Ino's.

"What? He told me he wanted **me** to come up here!" One by one, the rest of the confused girls all pulled out identical notes with a scowl.

"What the heck?! There's gotta be some kind of mistake! Why would Sasuke-kun ever want to meet with any of **you**!"

"Yeah, it's obviously me he likes!"

"Nuh-uh! Didn't you see how much he loved **my** Valentines gift? Your chocolates taste like cardboard; why would he ever choose you!"

"Oh yeah? Well let's just see who Sasuke-kun really chose!"

They all dashed up the final few steps and reached the roof, determined to get their answer. Still at the front of the group, the irate Ino flung the door open to be met with an unpleasant surprise.

The girls all squealed as they were drenched in a thick, sticky liquid, a bucket clanging to the floor. They all wiped the substance off of their eyes to see, all mourning their ruined hair and outfits.

"What the heck was that!"

Sakura swabbed a sample of the liquid with her finger. It smelled oddly sweet. She took a cautious taste.

"Is this molasses? I am going to kill whoever did this!" the violent girl yelled.

"You mean this was all a trap? Dammit, who the hell set this all – Naruto…" Ino growled in epiphany.

"Um... Guys?" a nervous kunoichi called.

"Yeah?" They answered simultaneously.

"There's a… box over here."

Sakura, Ino and the rest of the girls of the Sasuke fanclub looked at the closed box.

"Be careful! It's probably part of the trap!"

"What's in it?"

"Yeah, and what if it goes off?"

"What even triggers it? I do not see any wires or seals anywhere. What if he was expecting us to ignore it?"

The paranoid group looked at each other nervously in question.

"Someone's going to need to check it out and disarm it just in case."

They all stared each other down before extending a fist each towards the middle of the crowd.

"JAN-KEN-PON!"

After a few rounds, most of the fanclub had been eliminated, avoiding the risky task. Ino was staring down at her scissors, Sakura's hand clenched in a victorious rock.

"Looks like you have to take one for the team Ino-Pig!" Sakura teased.

"Fine, forehead-girl! Just hand me a kunai and step back..."

Ino approached carefully and slowly opened the box…

Nothing happened.

"OK, it's not a trap, we can relax."

"There's a note inside!"

Ino picked up the note...

"What does the note say?"

Ino looked at the note carefully.

"It reads... 'This is for Hinata! Suckers!'" Ino recited. She turned over the letter to see a picture of Naruto smirking and holding out his fingers in a V.

"I am going to **kill **the little orange bastard!"

It was at this point that the girls heard a jar break on the floor behind them. A distinct buzz sounded after it.

"Bees?!"

The girls looked at each other's molasses-covered forms.

"RUN!"

The girls scrambled for the exit.

* * *

Naruto smirked as he recalled his trick. It was totally worth whatever punishment Iruka-sensei would give him.

But now, he had a far greater prank to play. Today was White Day, and Naruto was determined to respond to Hinata's Valentines gift. He was going to give her a message she could not possibly avoid or ignore. There was no way she – or anyone, for that matter – could miss this.

He came to a stop after reaching his destination. He looked up at his canvas, a vision in his head. Tools in hand, he made his way up to execute his plan.

This would be his favourite prank ever.

* * *

Iruka Umino turned away from the blackboard to notice his entire class staring out the windows. This day was just getting weirder by the minute. Nearly every girl in the class was slack-jawed in disbelief, while the boys held looks of amusement.

Hinata had tears welling up in her eyes, but she was not upset. In fact, she was the opposite, and her happy tears threatened to overflow.

Off in the distance, towering high enough to be visible from any part of the village, stood the freshly-defaced Hokage monument. Below each of the Hokages' normally dismembered heads was painted a hilariously, disproportionately small cupid body, bow and arrow and all. And written across the side of the mountain in giant red letters was the message:

_Hinata will you go out with me?_

The vandal had not written their name – not that one would expect them to be stupid enough to do so – but everyone in class knew exactly who had done it.

The other girls, staring out at the blonde's work almost looked jealous. Not because it was Naruto, but just that no one – especially not their beloved Uchiha – had ever performed such a romantic gesture for any of them.

"Yes," Hinata whispered to herself, a joyous smile overtaking her face. "Yes, Naruto-kun."

"Ahem," Iruka cleared his throat loudly, diverting the class' attention back to the lesson. His words were lost on Hinata though, who spent the rest of the day daydreaming of her absent crush. This was officially her favourite holiday.


	4. April Fools

**Bait**

(April Fools)

**Summary:** Naruto and Hinata have been happily married for two years now… Or so everyone thinks. As much as Naruto tried to convince himself otherwise, he always knew something was missing from his life. Now he must come to terms with this as a meeting between him and Sakura rekindles forgotten emotions, and mistakes of the past are corrected. Will Naruto be able to hide his affair, or will he confess and leave behind the wife and son he never wanted?

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**APRIL FOOLS! ! ! ! ! **Did I get ya? Let me know in the reviews if I did, a day late but SO worth it if it worked! Anyway, here's the REAL summary!

**Summary:** Naruto is prepared to celebrate his favourite holiday – April Fools – but when a blue-haired Hyuuga does not go for the bait and threatens to foil his plans, how will he figure out how to lure her in? Or will he find out something far more shocking?

**A/N: Yeah, sorry I'm late again, heheh… I really gotta start finishing these further in advance. I sorta got caught up in a… thing… Yesterday that took up a lot of time, so I didn't finish on time. And I spent a good portion of my day today either in class or on a bus, so this was the fastest I could get this out. Btw, I didn't proofread this like I usually do because I got laz – er, **_**hurried diligently **_**to please all you fans – hopefully it's ok, but if it's in real bad need of editing, lemme know. Don't forget to leave a review! :D Enjoy!**

* * *

Anyone visiting Konoha on this day would swear the village was under siege. Everyone seemed on edge, expectant of some sort of personal attack, their untrusting eyes shifting across the crowds warily. Those were just the people who dared to walk outside; a suspicious amount of the civilians were shut in indoors. All of the shinobi clans had increased their security, both the Hyuuga and Yamanaka compounds protected by twice the normal guards on duty. The Inuzuka grounds were littered with a mass of free-roaming, snarling ninken, and the Aburame compound… No one stepped near the Aburame compound. The indicative buzzing of their chakra-eating companions was audible from well before one reached the gates, deterring any potential visitors with a shudder.

Despite appearances, the village was not at war. Not that their situation was much better. Today was a day that had the citizens of Konoha feared year after year.

April first, aka: April Fools.

In other villages, this day is not a day of terror. It is met with joy and laughter. But other villages did not house the infamous prankster, Naruto Uzumaki. Since the boy was strong enough to hold a bucket of paint, he had been playing pranks on the town's residents. His jokes were not something the villagers were not used to, but on this day his jokes had much more… collateral damage.

The others were irked enough as it was by his normal antics, but on this day his pranks were simply devastating. He was like a prankster werewolf, and this holiday devoted to tricks and shenanigans was his full moon.

But there was no fear in the eyes of Sasuke, the last Uchiha, as he strode down the streets of Konoha. Instead of searching his surroundings for any potential dangers, his onyx eyes were set on something else. _Someone _else.

"Hey, Ino-chan," he called out in a suave tone. Ino was in shocked to come face-to-face with **the** Sasuke Uchiha, his dreamy eyes staring back into hers.

'_He called me Ino-__**chan**__!' _"S-Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?" She mentally berated herself for sounding so lame and caught-off-guard.

"I'm here to ask the prettiest girl in the village out on a date." There were hearts in her eyes and the mindwalker felt faint as he lovingly cupped a hand on her soft cheek. She had to point to herself just to make sure, her voice absent in lieu of her amazement. He simply nodded smiling, as if to say _'yes, you_.'

"So what do you say?" Ino could only nod dumbly in response.

Sasuke smirked. "Great. Why don't you meet me on the roof of the academy in two hours?"

He walked away smugly, leaving the girl to swoon for a moment before bolting to her house to get prepared. Unknown to her, her crush had some preparing of his own to do. Just around a couple of corners, the boy met his next errand.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," he said as he tapped the pink-haired girl's shoulder from behind. She spun, sprining to attention.

"S-Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to ask the prettiest girl in the village out on a date." She pointed to herself mutely, to which he nodded and cupped a heated cheek delicately.

"So what do you say?" The kunoichi bobbed her head giddily.

"Great. Why don't you meet me on the roof of the academy in two hours?"

Sakura rebalanced herself from her sway as Sasuke walked away with a wink, and ran back to her home with urgency.

Now, to anyone who knew the last Uchiha – except maybe the love-blinded girls – this womanizing behaviour would have set off warning bells in their heads. And they would be right to be suspicious, because this was not actually Sasuke.

'_That's eight down, one to go,'_ Naruto mentally counted down.

It had taken him nine months of practicing, far more time than any of his classmates, but the young Uzumaki had finally been able to succeed in the henge jutsu. And now, on his favourite of holidays, he was going to put it to use. The boy was enough of a pest before, but with the ultimate disguise now in his arsenal, he was a downright menace. Perhaps if the village had known the things he intended to do with this technique, they would have petitioned to have it removed from the shinobi academy syllabus and stop teaching irresponsible children the easiest method of identity theft.

Naruto had many plans today. Big plans. He did every April Fools; it was the day he used to show the village what he was capable of, and that he was not to be messed with. First he would get his academy class, then the Inuzuka, then the Hyuuga, then the village elders, then the market district, then…

But he was getting ahead of himself. He had to use his time efficiently if he wanted to get through the whole list, and that meant no distractions. Probably the only time the blonde used his head and thought strategically was when he was playing pranks.

The girls from his class were the easiest to round up; with his (flawless, if he dare say so himself) henge of Sasuke, they would all jump straight off a cliff if he said he would meet them at the bottom. Afterwards he would accomplish the tougher task of gathering all the guys too, and from there the prank was already prepared and ready.

Coming out of his scheming, he spotted and approached his final target of the group. Hinata Hyuuga.

He would need to play his cards carefully on this one, she had a tendency to get nervous around people and faint, and that would set him back if he had to wait for her to come to. Perhaps he should ease it on the physical contact.

"Hey there, Hinata-chan," he greeted, reciting the scripted line once more.

"Oh, Sasuke-san, hello. How are you?"

'_Great,'_ thought Naruto,_ 'She doesn't seem so nervous right now. Maybe she won't pass out on me.'_

"I'm doing great, because I'm actually here to ask the prettiest girl in the village out on a date."

"Oh? Who would that be?" Hinata asked, hoping she was not prying too much, since he was the one that brought it up. Even though she did not gossip, she could not help but be curious who the object of the entire class' affection finally chose.

'Sasuke' gave a low chuckle. "Who do you think? I'm talking about you, of course." He punctuated that statement with a cool grin.

Hinata began pressing her fingers together, looking away. "Sorry Sasuke-san, b-but I cannot go out with you."

"Great. Why don't you mee – NANI?!"

Hinata looked back up at him at his outburst, but her eyes shied away again with a regretful look in them. She really did not want to have to hurt her poor classmate's feelings. He had the entire rest of the class to choose from, why did he have to pick her?

"I am sorry Sasuke-san, but I just d-don't like you in that way."

"What do you mean?! Why not?!" 'Sasuke' shouted, getting a little to close for comfort. Naruto was in shock, and needed to make sense of this turn of events.

Hinata backed away a few steps, feeling worse for how he seemed to be taking the rejection. "Because I… I like s-someone else."

"Who is it?!" he practically screamed into her face, mad with disbelief.

Hinata blushed a light pink. "I… c-cannot s-say… " she stuttered. "Look, I think it would b-be best if we just end this conversation now. I r-really must be going."

The quiet Hyuuga was incredibly uncomfortable, and rushed to take her leave before the displeased Uchiha could question her further.

Naruto just stood there in a daze, staring as the girl scurried around the corner, a poof of smoke returning his appearance to normal once she was beyond eyesight.

Now, he _could_ have let this one person go, and settle for fooling the rest of his classmates. But he was a perfectionist, dammit! Even if it was a very frustrating trait to have given his perpetual struggling in nearly everything else, when it came to his jokes, it was all or nothing.

'_I can't believe it… It's just not possible…'_ This one timid kunoichi was going to ruin his entire plan! **Everyone** loves Sasuke! All of the girls are at his feet, praising him all day long! Well… He could not recall any moments of Hinata specifically gushing over him like the rest of the fangirls, but he thought that was just because she was always so shy and quiet!

He had to work fast if he did not want to completely mess up his schedule.

* * *

Hinata was just stepping out of a weapon shop where she usually stocked on her equipment, when another one of her classmates approached her.

"Yo, Hinata," a pineapple-haired ninja drawled. "What's up?"

"Not much, Shikamaru-san. I was just getting a new set of kunai; how about you?"

The Nara sighed. "Just walking around, it's a real drag. If it wouldn't be too troublesome, I was wondering if you would go out with me?"

'_Oh no, not twice in one day,'_ Hinata thought. She looked away, unable to look back into his eyes as she turned him down. "Sorry, but no."

"What a drag."

"I hope w-we can still be friends though," she said to make sure there were no harsh feelings between them, since they did sit beside each other, after all. Even if they did not talk much, between her social anxieties and his napping, she did not want to be on bad terms with her classmate.

She looked back when she received no response, only to see Shikamaru had already disappeared. Hinata sighed. She must have really hurt him to get a Nara to move that fast.

The heiress barely made it three steps before Kiba came barreling toward her from behind.

"Hiya, Hinata!"

* * *

'_Dammit! There has to be an easier way!'_ the troubled boy cursed. He had already cycled through five of his classmates, all of them rejected by his target. If he could not figure out how to bait Hinata fast, the girls would arrive at the prank location before he could lure the guys, and his first prank of the day would be in disarray!

'_If only I could just ask her…'_ A lightbulb went off in Naruto's head. He was determined not to let this one girl thwart him! Casting his next henge, he raced in the direction that he last saw the Hyuuga heiress heading.

* * *

Hinata kept her hands on her tea cup to avoid fidgeting her fingertips. She sat across from Ino in a small tea house, consumed by an awkward silence. The ponytailed kunoichi had caught her on her way home and spontaneously dragged her here, saying the two of them needed to hang out and have some 'girl time'.

Naruto, henged as Ino, shifted awkwardly. He did not really know much about what girls liked to do, but he thought going to a tea house would seem normal. It was either that or clothes shopping, but that would not give him as much opportunity to talk.

"So… Got any new clothes lately?" 'Ino' asked, beating around the bush. He was afraid it would seem suspicious if he cut straight to the chase.

"I have not…"

"So who do you like?" 'she' blurted with much grace and tact, after Hinata had barely finished her nervous answer.

Hinata choked on her tea. "W-why do you ask that?"

"You know… Just curious. So who is it?"

"I c-can't say…" The reddening Hyuuga tried desperately to avoid answering the nosy girl's question and giving away her biggest secret.

"Come on, you can trust me! I won't go around telling everyone!"

'_Yeah right.'_ "I would r-rather n-not…"

"Have you told anyone else?"

"No…"

"…Have you even told the guy you like them?"

Hinata did not respond verbally. She simply looked down, shaking her head ashamedly.

"Well if you can't even tell me, how're you ever gonna be able to let _them_ know?"

Hinata regretted to admit Ino had a point.

"Just consider it practice."

'_Yeah, practice…'_ she reasoned. She wanted the first person she told to be the boy himself, but at her rate that may never happen. If this could actually help her conquer her nerves… Well, it would be worth a shot.

Letting her guard down momentarily and gathering her resolve with a deep breath, she let loose the identity of her crush.

"I like… I l-like… N… N-Naruto!" she stammered. The blonde across from her had bugged-out eyes and a gaping mouth in reaction.

Hinata saw her disbelief, and knew what was coming. She spoke up again before Ino could ask her _"Naruto?! Are you serious?!" _or _"How can you like the baka!"_ or something along those lines.

"Look, I know what you are going to say. I know Naruto-kun is not the b-best in the class, b-but he is the hardest working, and h-he refuses to let anything get the better of him, because he n-never loses hope. And he is v-veryk-kind, and always s-so happy and fun…"

'Ino' was shocked.

"…A-and c-cute…" she squeaked into her hand.

'Ino' was shocked and red.

* * *

Naruto was pacing on a rooftop, trying to collect his thoughts. After the surprising revelation, he had made up an excuse to leave – working at the family flower shop, or training, or something. He could not even recall as his mind was too invested on his internal battle.

On the one hand, he now knew the bait he needed to fool the last of his female classmates. And it was **him**. On the other hand – someone liked him! There was one girl in the class with enough taste not to go after the introverted Uchiha, and she liked **him**! A nice, smart, talented… _and cute_… kunoichi had a crush on him – but if he got her with this prank, she would probably end up hating him!

The Uzumaki was more conflicted than he had ever been in his life. He had the prank thoroughly thought-out, set up and ready to go! …But he could not turn the only girl who liked him against him! But it was April Fools! Pranking is tradition, she could not hold one harmless joke against him! He could ask her out for real another time! …But she would probably never trust him next time!

Naruto sagged at the headache he was working up.

He had made up his mind. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

Hinata was walking back home from a very tiring and strange morning of errands. She just wanted to get inside, have a light lunch, and lie on the couch with the novel she has been reading through the past few days and relax.

But it seemed relaxing was not in her cards as her whiskered crush came striding around the corner just a few feet away from her clan's compound.

She went rigid and red, looking for an escape route, but the blonde saw her before she could run, whether out of nervousness or fear, she was not sure. When he waved, with his bright, wide smile, Hinata gave a timid, small wave back.

"Hey Hinata!"

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"…You okay?" he asked, somewhat concerned.

"O-Of course. Why d-do you ask?"

"Cause you're shaking a lot." That one was new.

Hinata tried to contain her tense body. "S-Sorry, it is nothing."

"Good. Cause if you're interested… I was hoping maybe you would like to go out tonight?"

Hinata could not believe her red ears. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. Was this really happening? Was Naruto really…

Hinata narrowed her eyes, in suspicion and impending sorrow. "Wait… How do I know this is not o-one of your p-pranks?" She may love him, but she was no fool. The heiress had been witness to the many practical jokes her crush enacted on this day, and she had no desire to become the victim of one.

Naruto sighed. She was too smart. So it came to this. He stared her straight in the eyes, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm not doing any sort of pranks. Promise; kay?" _'There's always next year… Besides, at least I might be able to enjoy Valentine's Day for once instead.'_

Hinata's eyes tried to jump out of their sockets. This was even more unbelievable than when he asked her out. She knew he meant it, because he always kept his word.

"So will you go on a date with me?"

"…Yes," she answered, gazing to her right, but with a dazzling smile.

"QUICKLY! ETRACT HINATA-SAMA! GO, GO, GO!"

Four Hyuuga guards landed between the children, byakugans flared. Two grabbed their leader's eldest, checking for signs of 'KICK ME' signs, paint and/or stink bombs, itching powdered clothes, glued-coated sandals – _anything_. The other two flanked the boy in gentle-fist stance, daring the jinchuuriki to make a move.

Naruto leaned to look past the shinobi, but kept his feet rooted and hands to his sides. "I guess we're gonna have to change that date to tomorrow, huh?" he called, grinning sheepishly.

"I guess so," Hinata shouted back as she was being hauled over the gates.

"See ya tomorrow!"

"Yes. Bye!"

* * *

**Later at the Academy**

A puzzled group of young kunoichi all stood atop the roof of their school. They all wore their nicest clothes and makeup, and matching clueless expressions. They were all awaiting one boy to come and sort this problem out, but he never showed.

"What the heck?!"

"Did he just stand us up?"

"He stood **you** up, not me."

"Yeah; he couldn't stand **you** up because he asked **me** out!"

"You're crazy!"

"UGGHH! No, but I am **about**to be if that freaking buzzing doesn't stop! What even is that!"

Focusing for a second, Ino followed the annoying noise to a ventilation duct, and took a peek inside.

"What the hell?! Who left a bucket of molasses and a jar of bees in here?!"

"…Was this a trap?"

* * *

The villagers rose with the sun the next day, yawning in waking and relief. They had survived.

Getting up and dressed, everyone tread lightly through their respective homes, assessing the damage done.

…But there was none. April Fools had come and went, and there were no graffiti-ed walls, no marble-covered floors, no shaved or dyed cats or dogs, no tacks on chairs, no buckets of ink above doors, no dye in shampoo bottles, no plastic cockroaches on food, no jello filled toilet, no whoopee cushions on coaches, no pre-shaken cans of cola, no masking tape barriers in doorways, no flang-foodlers in timmiwickers, no uberwoobies on cahoozlers. It was like someone had just stolen April Fools completely from the village.

All around Konoha, people stepped out of their houses, adjusting their eyes to the light of the most beautiful day they had yet to see. And along every street, neighbours came together and joined hands, singing songs of joy and merriment in a delighted chorus that could be heard for miles.

And as this all happened, a new couple of young lovers cuddled atop the Hokage mountain, watching the sunrise as a song seemed to sound from nowhere, just for them.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Like the ending? It was inspired by the Grinch Who Stole Christmas – wrong holiday, and random, but I thought it fit. (The Heiress Who Stole April Fools? …Nah, was tempted to name the fic that for a second lol) Sorry it was late again, plz comment fave &amp; follow!**


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